Redeeming Qualities
by Elpis.97
Summary: Sakura knew moving to Konoha was, in the Nara boys words, troublesome. Her older brother was becoming distant, well more so than usual, and she had to deal with the fangirls in her class who insisted she was trying to take their precious Sasuke. The second that headband was on her forehead she was high tailing it out of this crazy village. My take on Naruto! Enjoy!


It took about six or so years after the famed Kyuubi no Yoko attack before Konoha was finally able to reinstate a peaceful status among Shinobi and civilians alike. Well as peaceful as you could get with a hyper active blonde terrorizing the public with pranks. But peaceful none the less. The peace allowed them to focus on more exciting things such as the new batch of students entering the academy! Among them was a young, and quite petite for her age, Pinkette whose bright and shining emerald eyes held determination as she walked across the lawn clutching her books in excitement. Around her many families wished their children luck with the new school year. Unfortunately her parents were not among them, but she looked passed the disappointment to study her new classmates. There were about thirty or so, all as seemingly excited as she was. She spotted the many of the prestigious clans that resided in Konoha gathered among the plush green grass. The Hyuuga family seemed to be dropping off a little girl, almost as tiny as she was, who hid behind her father's leg as he talked with the other parents. Her hair was a dark violet and she had the customary lavender, pupil less eyes that her family became so known with. Apparently she was a shy one. The Pinkette, humorously named Sakura Haruno, pulled out a thin leather journal and began to write down her observations in her childish scrawl. 'Hyuuga girl: shy with seemingly no outstanding qualities besides her bloodline.' Sakura looked around her for a place to comfortably observe, and secretly spy, on her classmates. Finally was able to sir on a nearby bench and after gently placed her books next to her she recorded down more information. 'Yamanaka girl: loud and obnoxious, no thanks, clan is skilled in mind possession.' 'Nara boy: bored and lazy, but supposedly extremely smart. Clan specializes in shadow control.' 'Uchiha boy: Prestigious clan, possible ally. Older brother is a prodigy. Clan has the famed Sharingan.' She put down her pencil to stare at a lone blonde haired boy nervously looking at his surroundings. He didn't appear to have a clan, she'd researched all the Shinobi clans and their heirs. Which made him interesting causing her to pack up her utensils to go towards the blonde and was about to introduce herself when her apparent instructor called for attention. He was a tan brunette with a scar going across his face. But he had a gentle smile and held himself with a calming authority.

"Proud parents and soon to be Shinobi of Konoha! My name is Umino Iruka and I will be your sensei for your time here at the academy, I ask you to say your last good byes and to follow me to your classroom." The man, Iruka-sensei, led her class to a colorful room in the front of the school. Blinding posters littered the room with different katas and Chakra diagrams. There was a large green chalkboard at the front and back of the room. Little shuriken had each person's name on it and there were clusters of desks strewn about the room. Three to a cluster and Sakura took the time to observe each name before finding her own which was next to a 'Watanabe Ami' and 'Furuna Karin'. She narrowed her eyes at her seatmates when she sat down. Ami was a proud and consistent bully of hers and she was not looking forward to spending her time willingly within a 10 mile radius of her. She pulled out her journal and began to write once more 'Watanabe Ami: shinobi clan, but nothing outstanding, not to be trusted.' She was about to write about the Furuna girl before the journal was pulled out from underneath her and into the hands of her tormentor. Ami had a dark purple afro with a small yellow bow at the top with cruel brown eyes. Her outfit, more fashion than function it seemed, consisted of a pink and red dress over dark brown tights and shiny black Mary Janes.

"Look! Forehead girl brought her diary, how cute!" Sakura looked at her furiously and clutched her pencil in her left hand while the other was under the table scratching at her leg to try and control the anger, "Give it back Watanabe-san! It's not yours to play with!" Ami ignored her in favor of tearing out pieces of paper and crumpling them before throwing it on the ground. Her little group of followers, which included the Yamanaka girl, laughed at Sakura being tormented by their leader. "I said, Give. It. Back!" Sakura launched out of her chair and snatched the journal from the bully in a blur before gathering her supplies and walking towards Iruka-sensei who was conversing with the head of the Aburame clan and his wife. Sakura tugged at the end of his chuunin vest which caused him to look pause his conversation and look down at her. "Mr. Iruka-Sensei, Watanabe-san is bullying me and I ask to be moved as far as possible from her!" Sakura asked as she pouted up at him. She had been looking forward to the academy all year, but she certainly wouldn't enjoy it if she had to spend it near Ami! Umino Iruka looked down at his pink haired student and smiled softly at her distress. "Do not worry-" he looked down at his clipboard which held the files on his students "Sakura-chan! Go stand by my desk and once everyone is settled I'll see where I can move you." He went back to his conversation with the Aburame after Sakura obeyed his instructions.

She fiddled with her black turtleneck as she awkwardly stood at the front of the class while her classmates found their seats. Ami and her group were sniggering in the back at her expense and Sakura chose to ignore them before sighing. She really wanted a peaceful school year, but it seems Ami had other plans. Most of her classmates played at the same playground where Ami usually tormented her, so it was incredibly doubtful that the school year would make them suddenly stand up for her. _'__It's so simple Sakura-Chan! We go over there and KICK HER ASS! CHA! Establish dominance and make it so she can't bother us ever again!'_

"_Inner shush, that's not going to happen. Even if I wanted to, I'd get kicked out and then be stuck at a civilian school! Let's just say that's so far down the list that I'd be willing to hug her than go there.'_ Sakura was snapped out of her thoughts when Iruka-sensei stood next to her and directed her towards where the Uchiha boy was sitting. He was next to Shikamaru Nara and Yamanaka Ino, and the latter looked positively ecstatic to be near someone but Sakura couldn't figure out who. "Ino-chan." The blonde girl looked up at her sensei, "There's been a slight seating change, you're going to be with Ami-chan and Karin-chan okay? Your mother told me you three are friends so I'm sure you'll be fine." There was an underlying tone of authority on his kind words that made Sakura smile. She took her new seat and unconsciously picked at the throwing star that still held Ino's name while her new sensei began to speak. It was mostly about the history of Konoha, something that Sakura had had drilled into her head far too often. She took the time to look around her, the Nara boy was dozing off already while the Uchida boy was doodling in his notebook. Sakura could feel holes being burned into the back of her skull, obviously by Ami, but Sakura chose to ignore it. The unknown blonde was in the cluster of desks next to her on her left, along with the Hyuuga girl and an unknown redhead. She grumbled at the amount of people she didn't know, it annoyed her and made her nervous.

She fiddled with her black tights and kept crossing and uncrossing her ankles from being so restless. Physical activities weren't until after lunch, but that seemed years away at this rate. They were on the second hokage before Iruka-sensei called a recess and Sakura was at the front of the line because she was just so damn bored! She rolled over in the green grass, protected from the blazing sun by the shade from large oak tree that resided on the other side of the fence. She plucked strands of the grass from the ground and ignored her classmates' screams of joy and laughter. As usual she hadn't been invited on the festivities and doubt she ever would. The sky was cloudless and so very blue, she noticed. The only kids not playing was the blonde she'd yet to make acquaintance with and the Nara boy. The latter was several feet from her taking a nap, it didn't matter how much sleep he got during class it seemed he's always be in the mood for a nap. Iruka-sensei was sitting on a bench under the pavilion talking to a dark blue haired man, whom Sakura assumed was another teacher as there was a class of older kids playing amongst her own class.

Recess soon bled into math which bled into lunch where Sakura ignored the fact that she was forced to sit alone in favor of looking for the blonde classmate she _still _didn't know the name of. It seems he didn't have a lunch and was swinging by himself outside. Sakura grabbed the half eaten bento she'd made herself this morning and journeyed over to him before setting it in front of him and sitting across from the swing set. The blonde looked curiously at Sakura and stopped swinging. "Where's your lunch?" she asked him, "I uh, I've already eaten it." He replied.

"You're lying, don't lie to me." The blonde looked down at his toes and mumbled that he didn't have any food at home so he was unable to make a lunch, let alone eat breakfast. Sakura nudged the Bento towards him and commanded him to eat it. "I'm full and you need it more than I do. What's your name?" The boy beamed at her before digging into the tomato and shrimp rice curry she'd packed. "Uzumaki Naruto! The future hokage at your service!" he said once he'd finished. Sakura stared at Naruto, taking in the smiling blonde. He had spiky electric yellow hair, and bright blue eyes. Even brighter than Yamanaka Ino's. His face had whisker marks, three for each cheek, and he wore a black t-shirt with an orange swirl in the middle. Sakura smiled at his antics before replying, "What makes you great enough for Hokage hm? You know the Fourth Hokage was a seal master, what's so special about you?" she teased him and laughed as he sputtered to respond. She packed up her lunch and walked arm in arm with Naruto when Iruka-sensei called them in. "You never told me your name you know." Naruto pointed out to the Pinkette. "I guess not, I'm Haruno Sakura, the _real _future Hokage." She winked at him and giggled as he pouted at her, and after promising she was just kidding, they both focused on the new sensei that was standing in front of them on the large training grounds behind the academy.

It held a large track and in the middle, where they were, had a sort of obstacle course consisting of tires in a row, a large wooden wall with a rope, and a dirty stretch of land under harmless wires. Older students were off the track throwing blunt kunai and shuriken at dummies. Their new sensei was the blue haired man Sakura had seen during recess. He'd introduced himself as Miyuki-sensei and he went on to teach them the proper throwing forms and katas they'll be learning. He even passed around a blunt throwing star, of course since most came from ninja families the blunt shuriken was a meager sight, but to Sakura it was fascinating. It seems Sakura was the only one without previous experience, even Naruto had been taught a few things here and there! It seemed a bit humiliating when she was she was the only one who did have a significant fighting style when they did the physical evaluation part of the day. The Hyuuga girl had a graceful style while Naruto's was brash and powerful, every classmate was leaps and bounds ahead of her and it was only the first day. Sakura sulked for the rest of the day and waited like the rest of her classmates to be picked up by their parents. Naruto had left early on, and Sakura pulled her knees towards her chest as she watched the happy students tell their parents about their day. Even the Nara boy seemed animated, truly an astounding sight to behold. Ami snickered when she walked past and Sakura heard bits and pieces of the conversation which its main topic seemed to be about the civilian girl who had no previous experience. It wasn't until the sun had set, and the sensei's had gone home when Sakura had finally been picked up.

Her older brother came walking towards her slowly, his dull green eyes were hooded and his face was emotionless. A small rucksack was in his left hand while his right was tucked into his pockets. Sakura ran towards him and bowed deeply in respect. "Good afternoon Satsuki-Nii-San!" He looked down at her and the corner of his mouth twitched, "Good afternoon. Let us get going." He pulled his right hand out of his pocket and held it out to her. She grabbed it and the two siblings made their way down the street.

A few hours earlier in the Hokages office, which was littered with unfinished paper work and equally unfinished pots of coffee, Umino Iruka was making his report to the Hokage. He bowed deeply and pulled out a stack of files which he then placed on the desk. The old man in front of him smiled and began to filter through them, "How do the new students look Umino-san? Anyone promising?" Iruka fumbled for a second with his notepad before reciting his observations, "The Uchiha and Hyuuga heir look very promising, and as usual there are several girls and this year it seems a few boys more interested in the idea of being a ninja and not being a ninja itself. The physical evaluations are a bit on the low side, but nothing Miyuki can't handle. But one question." The old Hokage looked up from reading Chouji Akamichi's file, "Why is there a civilian girl in the academy? A civilian hasn't been in the academy for years, especially after the you-know-what. I'm just a bit worried at her getting behind. She had the lowest evaluation in the class, her Chakra signature, it seems, is nonexistent." Before Iruka could continue the Hokage held up a tan wrinkled hand and chewed on his pipe for a bit. "Umino-san, you obviously know during the recent Great War many families came to Konoha and the Fire Country to seek refuge, among them was an eleven year old boy and his baby sister. I've kept tabs on this family and I see potential in the young Haruno, if I didn't, she simply wouldn't be allowed in the academy." The old man smoked on his pipe a bit longer before continuing, "Just wait, I'm sure she'll surprise you. That is all." And with that Umino Iruka left the room pondering his new class and its students.

**So uh… Long time no talk huh? It's been a couple years (coughcough) since you all last saw me! Sorry for the hiatus I have no clue what happened. But I'm back now! With a new story, I've been toying with remaking Naruto for a while and I decided to give it a shot! This is just a prologue, and the real adventure starts in chapter one! Don't forget to Review and tell me what you think! And I'll definitely get working on the other stories I have…. Again sorry! **

**XOXO**


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